Miocean on a mission

Alicia Robinson

NEWPORT BEACH -- The city will try again to build a permanent

educational and water quality testing facility in the Upper Newport

Bay, this time with help from Orange County environmental nonprofit

group Miocean.

Newport Beach has taken the lead in developing the new Back Bay

Science Center, a $5.5-million facility on Shellmaker Island that

would include a water quality testing lab for the Orange County

Health Care Agency, teaching labs for UC Irvine, and offices for the

state Department of Fish and Game.

The water quality testing and fish and game offices are now housed

in temporary trailers on the island.

City officials sought bids for the project in June 2004, but none

were submitted because contractors were incredibly busy and

construction prices kept creeping upward, Newport Beach Assistant

City Manager Dave Kiff said.

“We’re always chasing construction costs,” he said. “We really

couldn’t have gotten to this point without the commitment of the

Miocean group. They really saw this as a good project and stepped

up.”

The group promised about $500,000 if the city will match it, and

in exchange the center may be named for Miocean.

Miocean’s board of directors includes several Newport Beach

residents, including chairman Pat Fuscoe.

“We look for projects that are at the tipping point -- that are,

say, 80% funded, that are well defined, that there’s good

leadership,” Fuscoe said. “We like those because they’re fast and

they’re real, rather than studies that may never bear fruit.”

Miocean was attracted to the science center because it’s

educational, and the group hasn’t done any projects in Newport Beach,

he said.

“We think they [the city of Newport Beach] have some worthy

projects in mind, and we intend to do several, and it’s nice to be in

your own backyard,” Fuscoe said.

Other funding for the Back Bay Science Center will come from

Orange County, the Department of Fish and Game and UC Irvine.

The Newport Beach City Council will hear an update on the science

center Tuesday. Kiff said he expects the city to seek bids for the

project in June.